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Sunday, April 19, 2015

2013 Henry Aaron Award standings and results

The St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox could have played in October 2013 to decide who would carry the Henry Aaron Award into 2014, but they merely met in the World Series. The Cardinals barely nosed out the Red Sox as the Team of the Year for the interleague prize.

By BILL PETERSONBig Leagues in Los Angeles

For the first time in history, the Henry Aaron Award didn't go into the postseason.

But that didn't keep the two World Series teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox, from staging a tug-of-war for the prize. They just didn't play for it in the World Series.

It was a tough call for Team of the Year in the Aaron. The Cardinals finished 22-14 with two titles, seven defenses in nine tries and 26 games with the title. The Red Sox were 23-11 with six defenses in eight tries and 23 games with the title.

The Red Sox won the World Series and held a slightly better record in Aaron games than the Cardinals, but the Cardinals received the nod for Aaron Team of the Year for that one extra title defense.

The Cardinals completed their body of work in mid-May with a nice run of four defense after taking the Aaron from the Milwaukee Brewers with a four-game sweep May 2-5 in Milwaukee.

The Aaron moved to the American League at the tail-end of May and stayed there for most of the balance. When the Red Sox took it from the Dodgers with two-of-three at Dodger Stadium Aug. 23-25 the momentum took a big shift. The Red Sox held the prize for six defenses before losing two of three in Baltimore Sept. 17-19.

At season's end, the Toronto Blue Jays took two-of-three from the Tampa Bay Rays in Toronto, capturing the prize. However, because the Jays didn't go to the postseason, the trail ended there.

If the Red Sox had held the Aaron and taken it into the playoffs, they surely would have been the run-away winner in all categories. But their six-game World Series win against the Cardinals, though important in its own right, had no bearing on the Aaron competition.

2013 Henry Aaron Award results

Total run tiebreakers, if applicable, are given at the end of the results.

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About LA Big Leagues

Bill Peterson is an award winning journalist who has covered sports around the country for more than 30 years, including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and major collegiate sports for daily newspapers and major wire services. His longest stint was with The Cincinnati Post from 1986-1998. He also has worked at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Sporting News and Baseball America, among other publications. He later produced successful public interest newspapers and websites in the Austin/San Antonio area. Peterson is a lifetime member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, formerly with a vote for the Hall of Fame. He can be contacted by email at bill@labigleagues.com.